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David Bowie’s Lazarus to become a Virtual Reality experience

Michael Bonner
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David Bowie’s Lazarus to become a Virtual Reality experience

David Bowie‘s Lazarus musical is set to become a virtual reality experience.

The show was performed at London’s Kings Cross Theatre from November 2016 to January 2017, following a six-week stint in New York in late 2015 and early 2016.

The new version of the show will form part of the V&A’s 2017 Performance Festival, which is due to take place between April 21 – 30 at the museum.

Footage of Lazarus is to be screened during the From VHS To VR event, which is scheduled for the festival’s final day. The clips being used were recorded at one of the performances in January and will feature the musical’s stars Michael C Hall, Amy Lennox and Sophia Anne Caruso.

Ahead of the VR experience, Emily Harris, the National Video Archive Of Performance curator, will speak about the making of the recording. The audience will then be invited to take part in the experience via the use of VR headsets.

Admission to the event is free and more information can be found on the V&A’s official website.

The May 2017 issue of Uncut is now on sale in the UK – featuring our cover story on Buckingham Nicks. Elsewhere in the issue, there’s interviews with Elastica, Mac DeMarco, John Lydon and Mike Love. We take a trip to Morocco – North African destination of The Beatles, Stones, Hendrix and more – and look back at the life of Laura Nyro. Our free CD collects great new tracks from Father John Misty, Mark Lanegan Band, Fairport Convention, Thundercat and more. The issue also features Wire on their best recorded work. Plus Future Islands, Lemon Twigs, Sleaford Mods, Rod Stewart, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, T.Rex, Cosey Fanni Tutti and more, plus 131 reviews

The Only Ones’ Peter Perrett announces debut solo album, How The West Was Won

Michael Bonner
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The Only Ones’ Peter Perrett announces debut solo album, How The West Was Won

Peter Perrett – former frontman of The Only Ones – releases his debut solo album How The West Was Won on June 30 through Domino.

Perrett is backed by his sons – Jamie and Peter Jr. on lead guitar and bass respectively – and the album has been produced by Chris Kimsey.

You can watch a video for the title track below.

Tracklisting for How The West Was Won is:

How The West Was Won
An Epic Story
Hard To Say No
Troika
Living In My Head
Man Of Extremes
Sweet Endeavour
C Voyeurger
Something In My Brain
Take Me Home

The May 2017 issue of Uncut is now on sale in the UK – featuring our cover story on Buckingham Nicks. Elsewhere in the issue, there’s interviews with Elastica, Mac DeMarco, John Lydon and Mike Love. We take a trip to Morocco – North African destination of The Beatles, Stones, Hendrix and more – and look back at the life of Laura Nyro. Our free CD collects great new tracks from Father John Misty, Mark Lanegan Band, Fairport Convention, Thundercat and more. The issue also features Wire on their best recorded work. Plus Future Islands, Lemon Twigs, Sleaford Mods, Rod Stewart, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, T.Rex, Cosey Fanni Tutti and more, plus 131 reviews

Guitarist J. Geils dies aged 71

Michael Bonner
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Guitarist J. Geils dies aged 71

The guitarist J. Geils has died, aged 71.

He was found dead at his home in Groton, Massachusetts, on Tuesday [April 11, 2017].

Geils was best known for forming the band which carried his name, The J. Geils Band, in 1967 in Worcester, Massachusetts.

They released 11 studio albums before breaking up in 1985.

Their run of singles included “Must Of Got Lost” (1975), “Love Stinks” (1980) and “Come Back” (1980), but they are best known for their No 1 single, “Centerfold” from 1981.

“Centrefold” appeared on the album, Freeze-Frame, which also reached No 1.

The band reunited in recent years for occasional appearances while Geils himself released a number of jazz albums.

J. Geils Band vocalist Peter Wolf paid tribute to the guitarist on Facebook, with a statement reading: “Thinking of all the times we kicked it high and rocked down the house! R.I.P. Jay Geils.”

"Thinking of all the times we kicked it high and rocked down the house! R.I.P. Jay Geils" PW

Posted by Peter Wolf on Tuesday, April 11, 2017

The May 2017 issue of Uncut is now on sale in the UK – featuring our cover story on Buckingham Nicks. Elsewhere in the issue, there’s interviews with Elastica, Mac DeMarco, John Lydon and Mike Love. We take a trip to Morocco – North African destination of The Beatles, Stones, Hendrix and more – and look back at the life of Laura Nyro. Our free CD collects great new tracks from Father John Misty, Mark Lanegan Band, Fairport Convention, Thundercat and more. The issue also features Wire on their best recorded work. Plus Future Islands, Lemon Twigs, Sleaford Mods, Rod Stewart, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, T.Rex, Cosey Fanni Tutti and more, plus 131 reviews

Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie confirm tracklisting for their new album

Michael Bonner
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Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie confirm tracklisting for their new album

Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie have announced details of their forthcoming duo album.

The 10-track album is called Lindsey Buckingham/Christine McVie and will be released by East West on June 9 on CD, LP and all digital and streaming services.

The first single “In My World” will be available this Friday, April 14.

A North American tour begins on June 21 in Chastain Park, Atlanta, GA.

You can read our exclusive interviews with Lindsey and Christine about their duo album and the future of Fleetwood Mac in the current issue of Uncut – click here for more details

The track Listing for Lindsey Buckingham/Christine McVie is:

“Sleeping Around The Corner”
“Feel About You”
“In My World”
“Red Sun”
“Love Is Here To Stay”
“Too Far Gone”
“Lay Down For Free”
“Game Of Pretend”
“On With The Show”
“Carnival Begin”

The tour dates are:
June 21, 2017: Chastain Park, Atlanta, GA
June 23, 2017: Ascend Amphitheatre, Nashville, TN
June 24, 2017 The Red Hat Amphitheater, Raleigh, NC
June 26, 2017: Wolf Trap, Vienna, VA
June 28, 2017: Blue Hills Bank Pavilion, Boston, MA
June 30, 2017: Mann Center for the Performing Arts, Philadelphia, PA
July 2, 2017: Fox Theatre, Detroit, MI
July 3, 2017: Northerly Island, Chicago, IL
July 5, 2017: Budweiser Stage, Toronto, ON
July 19, 2017: Chateau Ste. Michelle, Woodinville, WA
July 21, 2017: Ironstone Amphitheatre, Murphys, CA
July 22, 2017: Park Theatre, Las Vegas, NV
July 25, 2017: Comerica Theatre, Phoenix, AZ
July 27, 2017: Paramount Theatre, Denver, CO

The May 2017 issue of Uncut is now on sale in the UK – featuring our cover story on Buckingham Nicks. Elsewhere in the issue, there’s interviews with Elastica, Mac DeMarco, John Lydon and Mike Love. We take a trip to Morocco – North African destination of The Beatles, Stones, Hendrix and more – and look back at the life of Laura Nyro. Our free CD collects great new tracks from Father John Misty, Mark Lanegan Band, Fairport Convention, Thundercat and more. The issue also features Wire on their best recorded work. Plus Future Islands, Lemon Twigs, Sleaford Mods, Rod Stewart, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, T.Rex, Cosey Fanni Tutti and more, plus 131 reviews

Van Morrison’s early solo career documented on The Authorized Bang Collection

Michael Bonner
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Van Morrison’s early solo career documented on The Authorized Bang Collection

Van Morrison‘s recordings for Bang Records in 1967, including an entire disc of tracks seeing official release for the first time, will feature on the upcoming 3CD set, The Authorized Bang Collection.

The first disc collects the original masters from the Bang sessions, recorded in New York City in 1967, including the tracks “Brown Eyed Girl”, “T.B. Sheets” and “Madame George” with a second disc featuring rarities from those sessions.

A third disc, titled Contractual Obligation Session includes 31 short songs that are presented for the first time in an official capacity. The tracks – including “The Big Royalty Check” and “Ring Worm” – have been widely bootlegged.

Bang Records was run by Bert Berns, a producer and songwriter whose credits included “Twist And Shout” and “Here Comes The Night”.

In his own notes for this collection, Van Morrison wrote, “Bert Berns was a genius. He was a brilliant songwriter and he had a lot of soul, which you don’t find nowadays.”

VAN MORRISON – THE AUTHORIZED BANG COLLECTION

Disc One – The Original Masters:
1. Brown Eyed Girl [original stereo mix]
2. He Ain’t Give You None [original stereo mix]
3. T.B. Sheets [original stereo mix]
4. Spanish Rose [original stereo mix]
5. Goodbye Baby (Baby Goodbye) [original stereo mix]
6. Ro Ro Rosey [original stereo mix]
7. Who Drove The Red Sports Car [original stereo mix]
8. Midnight Special [original stereo mix]
9. It’s All Right [original stereo mix]
10. Send Your Mind [original stereo mix]
11. The Smile You Smile [original stereo mix]
12. The Back Room [original stereo mix] (5:26)
13. Joe Harper Saturday Morning [original stereo mix] (2:55)
14. Beside You [original mono mix]
15. Madame George [original mono mix]
16. Chick-A-Boom [original mono mix]
17. The Smile You Smile [demo]

Disc Two – Bang Sessions & Rarities:
1. Brown Eyed Girl [original edited mono single mix]
2. Ro Ro Rosey [original mono single mix with backing vocals]
3. T.B. Sheets [Take 2] *
4. Goodbye Baby (Baby Goodbye) [Takes 10 & 11] *
5. Send Your Mind [Take 3] *
6. Midnight Special [Take 7]
7. He Ain’t Give You None (Take 4)
8. Ro Ro Rosey [Take 2] *
9. Who Drove The Red Sports Car (Take 6)
10. Beside You [Take 2] *
11. Joe Harper Saturday Morning [Take 2] *
12. Beside You [Take 5] *
13. Spanish Rose [Take 14] (4:23) *
14. Brown Eyed Girl [Takes 1-6] *
15. Brown Eyed Girl [Takes 7-11] *

*Previously Unissued
Discs One & Two: All songs Produced & Directed by Bert Berns

Disc Three – Contractual Obligation Session:
1. Twist And Shake
2. Shake And Roll
3. Stomp And Scream
4. Scream And Holler
5. Jump And Thump
6. Drivin’ Wheel
7. Just Ball
8. Shake It Mable
9. Hold On George
10. The Big Royalty Check
11. Ring Worm
12. Savoy Hollywood
13. Freaky If You Got This Far
14. Up Your Mind
15. Thirty Two
16. All The Bits
17. You Say France And I Whistle
18. Blowin’ Your Nose
19. Nose In Your Blow
20. La Mambo
21. Go For Yourself
22. Want A Danish
23. Here Comes Dumb George
24. Chickee Coo
25. Do It
26. Hang On Groovy
27. Goodbye George
28. Dum Dum George
29. Walk And Talk
30. The Wobble
31. Wobble And Ball

Previously Unissued

The May 2017 issue of Uncut is now on sale in the UK – featuring our cover story on Buckingham Nicks. Elsewhere in the issue, there’s interviews with Elastica, Mac DeMarco, John Lydon and Mike Love. We take a trip to Morocco – North African destination of The Beatles, Stones, Hendrix and more – and look back at the life of Laura Nyro. Our free CD collects great new tracks from Father John Misty, Mark Lanegan Band, Fairport Convention, Thundercat and more. The issue also features Wire on their best recorded work. Plus Future Islands, Lemon Twigs, Sleaford Mods, Rod Stewart, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, T.Rex, Cosey Fanni Tutti and more, plus 131 reviews

Black Sabbath’s ‘The End’ documentary is coming soon

Michael Bonner
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Black Sabbath’s ‘The End’ documentary is coming soon

Black Sabbath guitarist Tomy Iommi has revealed that there’s a Black Sabbath documentary planned as well as a live album from recordings of their final shows.

Sabbath played 81 live shows as a part of their The End tour, which spanned four continents. They played their final gig with a career-spanning set in their native Birmingham.

However, speaking to NBC News, Iommi reports that he’s currently in “the process of mixing the sound from the final Sabbath shows in Birmingham for a possible live album.” The guitarist added: “We’ll actually be doing a documentary. My job at the moment is to have a listen to what we’ve done.”

The May 2017 issue of Uncut is now on sale in the UK – featuring our cover story on Buckingham Nicks. Elsewhere in the issue, there’s interviews with Elastica, Mac DeMarco, John Lydon and Mike Love. We take a trip to Morocco – North African destination of The Beatles, Stones, Hendrix and more – and look back at the life of Laura Nyro. Our free CD collects great new tracks from Father John Misty, Mark Lanegan Band, Fairport Convention, Thundercat and more. The issue also features Wire on their best recorded work. Plus Future Islands, Lemon Twigs, Sleaford Mods, Rod Stewart, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, T.Rex, Cosey Fanni Tutti and more, plus 131 reviews

Introducing The Ultimate Music Guide To The Kinks

Michael Bonner
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Introducing The Ultimate Music Guide To The Kinks

Late last year, I interviewed Ray Davies for Uncut’s annual Album Preview. Under discussion was Ray’s latest release, Americana; his first LP since 2007’s Working Man’s Café. Inevitably, though, talk also turned to the current state of Ray’s relationship with his brother,Dave. In particular, Ray’s unannounced appearance at Islington Assembly Hall in December, 2015, when he and Dave performed together on stage for the first time in 20 years, playing “You Really Got Me”.

“Dave invited me, I went along at the last minute,” said Ray. “I saw his act, he’s got a really good band. He invited me on to do a song. I didn’t have my harmonica with me, so I sang the vocal on ‘You Really Got Me’. There are no further plans. Dave and I have never had a plan about anything! There’s a synergy that comes between being related and quite a psychic – or psychotic – family. That’s the way it goes. I’m happy for him. He bought a round of drinks the last time I saw him, so that’s an improvement.”

While we wait for fresh developments in the saga of the Davies siblings, why not revisit The Kinks many, remarkable achievements – as documented in the deluxe, updated edition of our 148-page Ultimate Music Guide: The Kinks? Inside, we tell the band’s complete story via a wealth of interviews from the NME, Melody Maker and Uncut archives. We’ve reviewed each of the band’s albums, as well as a full-round up of solo projects, live releases and compilations. Our Ultimate Music Guide: The Kinks goes on sale in UK shops on Thursday – although it’s available to buy here now (along with a load of our other Ultimate Music Guides).

In the meantime, have a peaceful Easter – hope the weather holds – and John will be back next week with some more exciting news from Uncut…

Follow me on Twitter @MichaelBonner

The May 2017 issue of Uncut is now on sale in the UK – featuring our cover story on Buckingham Nicks. Elsewhere in the issue, there’s interviews with Elastica, Mac DeMarco, John Lydon and Mike Love. We take a trip to Morocco – North African destination of The Beatles, Stones, Hendrix and more – and look back at the life of Laura Nyro. Our free CD collects great new tracks from Father John Misty, Mark Lanegan Band, Fairport Convention, Thundercat and more. The issue also features Wire on their best recorded work. Plus Future Islands, Lemon Twigs, Sleaford Mods, Rod Stewart, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, T.Rex, Cosey Fanni Tutti and more, plus 131 reviews

Coachella turned down the chance to book Kate Bush

Michael Bonner
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0
Coachella turned down the chance to book Kate Bush

Coachella reportedly turned down the chance to book Kate Bush.

A new feature in The New Yorker offers a behind-the-scenes look at the inner-workings of the festival. Marc Geiger, head of music at the William Morris Endeavour agency, says that Coachella rejected the idea of booking Bush because people wouldn’t “understand” her.

“‘I’ll say, ‘Kate Bush!’ And [Coachella CEO Paul Tollett will] go, ‘No!,’ and we’ll talk through it. I’ll say, ‘She’s never played here, and she just did 30 shows in the UK for the first time since the late seventies. You gotta do it! Have to!’ ‘No! No one is going to understand it.’”

Kate Bush returned to the stage in 2014 for 22 shows in London – her first live performances since 1979.

Coachella 2017 takes place this weekend (April 14 – 17) and the following weekend (April 21-23) in Indio, California.

The May 2017 issue of Uncut is now on sale in the UK – featuring our cover story on Buckingham Nicks. Elsewhere in the issue, there’s interviews with Elastica, Mac DeMarco, John Lydon and Mike Love. We take a trip to Morocco – North African destination of The Beatles, Stones, Hendrix and more – and look back at the life of Laura Nyro. Our free CD collects great new tracks from Father John Misty, Mark Lanegan Band, Fairport Convention, Thundercat and more. The issue also features Wire on their best recorded work. Plus Future Islands, Lemon Twigs, Sleaford Mods, Rod Stewart, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, T.Rex, Cosey Fanni Tutti and more, plus 131 reviews

Various Artists – Just Go Wild Over Rock And Roll

Andy Gill
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Various Artists – Just Go Wild Over Rock And Roll

The origin of rock’n’roll is partly a matter of nomenclature, and partly of geography. Where does R’n’B end, and rock’n’roll begin? Back in the mid-’50s, there was no decisive border between genres, no line drawn in the sand, but rather a more diffuse boundary, re-drawn with each successive tide, the seas controlled by corruptible media gatekeepers like Alan Freed and Dick Clark. So one day Bo Diddley, for instance, may have been considered R’n’B, the next rock’n’roll.

The situation is further complicated by the regional nature of that era’s popular music, with each area developing its own strain of R’n’B, a process partly determined by the wattage of the local radio transmitter. Nowhere was this regionality more evident than in New Orleans, where the peculiar fingerprint of the city’s music – what Jelly Roll Morton called “the Spanish tinge” – was transmuted into the rumba-rock rhythms of piano legend Professor Longhair; while the Mardi Gras Indian chants of the city’s unorthodox gang culture acquired wider exposure through records like Sugar Boy & His Cane Cutters’ “Jock-A-Mo”, James ‘Sugar Boy’ Crawford’s original 1954 recording of what would subsequently become internationally infectious as “Iko Iko”.

But although promoting a rich diversity of musical styles, regionality could downplay the influence and importance of an artist or recording. New Orleans’ most celebrated musical son Fats Domino, for instance, could lay incontrovertible claim to the first rock’n’roll record with his 1949 debut “The Fat Man” (not included here), though for some reason rock’n’roll sages and historians have bestowed that honour upon “Rocket 88” by Jackie Brenston & His Delta Cats, a 1951 track licensed to Chess Records by Sun Studios genius Sam Phillips. So props, then, to the 19-year-old Ike Turner, whose Kings Of Rhythm lurked behind the Delta Cats sobriquet (Brenston was Ike’s sax player), and who made just a princely $20 for the galloping Oldsmobile tribute. Ironically Turner, whose piano intro would be borrowed for Little Richard’s “Good Golly Miss Molly”, always considered the track R’n’B rather than rock’n’roll – and certainly, Brenston’s enjoyably ramshackle follow-up “Juiced” (“let’s drink some juice, get loose ’til the morning”) stays firmly on the R’n’B side of that divide.

Chess Records, of course, was firmly rooted in R’n’B until April 1955, when Bo Diddley’s eponymous debut single took off, followed in July by Chuck Berry’s motorvating “Maybellene”. This, surely, was the decisive shift to rock’n’roll: both these tracks employed newer, more urgent rhythms than the swing grooves of R’n’B, with more upfront, unashamed sexual energy. The febrile itch of Bo’s guitar and his sidekick Jerome’s shaker on “Bo Diddley” was a dynamic adaptation of the “hambone” style, based on the African “patted juba” form, in which rhythms were patted out by dancers on their own bodies, in lieu of the drums forbidden to slaves. The Diddley-beat remains a hardy virus infecting huge swathes of popular music across the decades, while the equally popular “Who Do You Love” wittily introduced voodoo into rock. “Maybellene”, meanwhile, introduced the world to rock’s first poetic genius, a status confirmed here by a select anthology of fast, witty narrative masterworks – “Johnny B Goode”, “You Never Can Tell” and the peerless “No Particular Place To Go” – and only slightly tainted by the live version of “My Ding-A-Ling” which closes the album.

Around these twin titans scamper a throng of fellow travellers and one-hit-wonders, their variety indicative of the instantly expanding range of the new youth music. Perhaps the most important of these second stringers was Dale Hawkins, whose classic “Suzie Q” oozed predatory sexual threat, both in Dale’s slyly casual vocal and James Burton’s tart, assertive guitar riff. Almost single-handedly, it established swamp-rock as a serviceable sub-genre of its own, ripe for John Fogerty’s imaginative evocations.

A couple of other tracks here are worthy first-string classics. Built around the hook from Mickey & Sylvia’s “Love Is Strange”, Dave ‘Baby’ Cortez’s popular “Rinky Dink” is the kind of organ instrumental that soundtracked fairgrounds and ice rinks (and ITV’s wrestling, grapple fans!) through the ’60s, and proved influential on Booker T & The MG’s, who covered it on their debut album.

Recorded at Cosimo Matassa’s J&M Studio in New Orleans, Clarence ‘Frogman’ Henry’s quirky “I Ain’t Got No Home”, featuring his trademark novelty frog vocal, employed the hard-swinging, propulsive horn sound that Bumps Blackwell perfected there on Little Richard’s early releases. Its engaging charm assured Henry a long and entertaining career, something denied to the creators of less enduring novelties like The Satellites’ corny rocket-age countdown “Blast Off” and the “breathless” gimmick of “Save It” by Mel Robbins, solo pseudonym of Hargus ‘Pig’ Robbins, the legendary blind session pianist featured on Blonde On Blonde.

This was the era when separatist ideas of black and white first began breaking down. Yet another New Orleans legend, Bobby Charles (who wrote “See You Later, Alligator”, among others), is featured here doing a remarkable act of musical blackface with “Time Will Tell”, a loping R’n’B swagger as cool as ice. By contrast, Bobby Sisco’s “Tall Dark And Handsome Man” exemplifies the farmhand rockabilly vocal twang that derived from the other partner in rock’n’roll’s miscegenate marriage of country and blues, a mode that reaches perhaps its furthest extremity with Billy Barrix’s “Cool Off Baby”, whose stammer-stutter delivery dissolves into an incomprehensible stream of staccato vocables. It’s redolent of that scene from In The Heat Of The Night when the hillbilly murderer slips a dime into the diner’s jukebox and stalks stealthily away, aping the lyric of “The Creeper”.

The closest this set gets to that level of sinister charm is probably Eddie Fontaine, whose “Nothin’ Shakin’ (But The Leaves On The Trees)” was a stand-alone classic blending Chuck Berry rhythms with rockabilly snap. Popular with the young George Harrison, it became part of The Beatles’ live repertoire as they built that most impressive of rock’n’roll edifices. Sadly, Fontaine did not fare quite as well, becoming a bit-part actor in TV cop shows, while his own reality began to mirror that of the low-lifes he played. Convictions for grand larceny and child molestation were eventually followed in 1984 by a further conviction for trying to lure another singer into murdering his estranged wife. Sometimes the promise of those rock’n’roll pearls just falls on stony ground, I guess.

The May 2017 issue of Uncut is now on sale in the UK – featuring our cover story on Buckingham Nicks. Elsewhere in the issue, there’s interviews with Elastica, Mac DeMarco, John Lydon and Mike Love. We take a trip to Morocco – North African destination of The Beatles, Stones, Hendrix and more – and look back at the life of Laura Nyro. Our free CD collects great new tracks from Father John Misty, Mark Lanegan Band, Fairport Convention, Thundercat and more. The issue also features Wire on their best recorded work. Plus Future Islands, Lemon Twigs, Sleaford Mods, Rod Stewart, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, T.Rex, Cosey Fanni Tutti and more, plus 131 reviews

Hear Beck cover Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling In Love”

Michael Bonner
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Hear Beck cover Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling In Love”

Beck has unveiled his cover of the Elvis Presley‘s “Can’t Help Falling In Love”. Check it out below.

The track is taken from the soundtrack to the Amazon Prime TV series, The Man In The High Castle.

You can listen to it right here.

The May 2017 issue of Uncut is now on sale in the UK – featuring our cover story on Buckingham Nicks. Elsewhere in the issue, there’s interviews with Elastica, Mac DeMarco, John Lydon and Mike Love. We take a trip to Morocco – North African destination of The Beatles, Stones, Hendrix and more – and look back at the life of Laura Nyro. Our free CD collects great new tracks from Father John Misty, Mark Lanegan Band, Fairport Convention, Thundercat and more. The issue also features Wire on their best recorded work. Plus Future Islands, Lemon Twigs, Sleaford Mods, Rod Stewart, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, T.Rex, Cosey Fanni Tutti and more, plus 131 reviews

Watch Keith Richards and Willie Nelson perform together at Merle Haggard tribute

Michael Bonner
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Watch Keith Richards and Willie Nelson perform together at Merle Haggard tribute

Keith Richards and Willie Nelson performed on stage together on April 6 at a tribute concert honouring Merle Haggard.

Sing Me Back Home: The Music of Merle Haggard took place on the one-year anniversary of Haggard’s death and featured arists including Loretta Lynn, Billy Gibbons, Alison Krauss, Lucinda Williams, John Mellencamp, Sheryl Crow, Miranda Lambert and Kacey Musgraves.

The event took place at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, where Richards performed Haggard’s song “Sing Me Back Home“.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkHkTx5-9KY

Richards was then joined by Willie Nelson for a rendition of “Reasons To Quit”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3Z06qiSYvE

Earlier in the evening, Richards posted photos of the event on Twitter.

The May 2017 issue of Uncut is now on sale in the UK – featuring our cover story on Buckingham Nicks. Elsewhere in the issue, there’s interviews with Elastica, Mac DeMarco, John Lydon and Mike Love. We take a trip to Morocco – North African destination of The Beatles, Stones, Hendrix and more – and look back at the life of Laura Nyro. Our free CD collects great new tracks from Father John Misty, Mark Lanegan Band, Fairport Convention, Thundercat and more. The issue also features Wire on their best recorded work. Plus Future Islands, Lemon Twigs, Sleaford Mods, Rod Stewart, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, T.Rex, Cosey Fanni Tutti and more, plus 131 reviews

Jarvis Cocker & Chilly Gonzales – Room 29

John Lewis
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Jarvis Cocker & Chilly Gonzales – Room 29

Hotels have long been an essential component of rock’n’roll decadence, and few have such an impressive history of decadence as the Chateau Marmont in Hollywood. It’s where Led Zeppelin drove their Harley-Davidsons through the lobby, where John Belushi overdosed, where Roman Polanski took up residence with Sharon Tate, and where James Dean auditioned for Rebel Without A Cause.

But, for Jarvis Cocker, this hotel is less a home for TV-trashing debauchery, and more a place for quiet introspection. “A comfortable venue for a nervous breakdown/A front-row seat for a psychic shakedown,” he whispers on the opening track of this album about the Chateau Marmont. “Is there anything sadder than a hotel room that’s never been fucked in?”

Cocker stayed here in 2012, while Pulp played Los Angeles on their comeback tour, and became fascinated by the pre-rock’n’roll history of this iconic establishment, which hosted the likes of Howard Hughes and Judy Garland. By the time Pulp had finished the tour, Cocker was researching the hotel’s history and reading up on the myriad movie stars and gangsters of the 1930s and ’40s who had stayed there.

Together with his old friend, the Canadian pianist Chilly Gonzales – and with narration from the film historian David Thomson – he has assembled an album inspired by this remarkable history. With Gonzales’ delicate fin de siècle piano arrangements backed by a string quartet, the result is pitched somewhere between an operetta, a Schubertian song-cycle, a documentary and one of those impressionistic sound collages in the vein of Cocker’s Wireless Nights shows on Radio 4.

Cocker discovered that the piano in his hotel room – Room 29 – was installed there by Mark Twain’s daughter Clara Clemens, which inspires the beautifully tragic music hall song called “Clara”, based on Gonzales’ “Armellodie”, telling of the death of Clara’s alcoholic daughter. Cocker was also astonished to discover that the same room had hosted the honeymoon of the Hollywood sex symbol Jean Harlow and her second husband, the screenwriter and MGM producer Paul Bern. Bern killed himself only weeks later, after failing to consummate the marriage, and that fateful honeymoon is explored in “Bombshell”.

It’s narrated from the point of view of Bern, nervously eyeing his bride (“Eyebrows plucked to nothing, skin as pale as porcelain”) as she emerges from the shower. “It’s hard to hold a bombshell when it’s soaking wet,” Jarvis croaks.

The songs are rich in such Jarvisian couplets. “You are such a jerk,” he croons at the start of the heartbreakingly pretty “Tearjerker”. “You don’t need a girlfriend/You need a social worker.” It’s an album that takes care not to endorse the bad behaviour of the celebrity hotel guest. Where those famous wreckers of hotel rooms, The Who, wrote contemptuously of the “Bell Boy”, here Cocker’s “Belle Boy” is a stoic hero who has to put up with rich, arrogant guests – including one who insists on calling in the hotel attendant while he’s having sex (“He just smiled and kept on going/I guess it got his juices flowing/Playing for an audience of one… and he didn’t even leave a tip”). Set to a strident, Michael Nyman-ish string quartet, it’s one of several songs here that works in isolation, filled with more Jarvisian one-liners. “Life would be a bed of roses/If it wasn’t for all of the pricks/Who wanna take it out on the bell boy.”

Some of the other songs are more tangentially related to the Marmont. A painting on the hotel wall which depicts the biblical tale of Herod and his daughter inspires “Salomé”, a song narrated – hilariously – from the POV of the beheaded John The Baptist. “I don’t know what to do/I seem to have lost my head over you/Now see it rolling on the ground/Beside your feet…”. Where the music elsewhere is curt and minimal, here it’s lush, expansive and hopelessly romantic, with heart-tugging major sevenths and lush strings reminiscent of Burt Bacharach, albeit a Bacharach who has sacked Hal David and replaced him with Ivor Cutler. “There’s my head, tucked under your arm…”

The idea of the “head in the box” shifts the focus from film to television, and “The Other Side” is scathing about the vacuity of contemporary broadcasting. It’s as if the embittered working-class narrator of “Common People” has finally made it into the bourgeois fraternity who run the media and is disgusted by what he sees. “I wannabe where they fill the box,” spits the narrator. “I ended up with a bunch of coked-up public schoolboys/All trying very hard to grow dreadlocks.”

If the album follows a loose narrative, it seems to culminate in “Trick Of The Light”, a dark waltz which discusses how the silver screen, at its best, finds a way of manipulating our deepest emotions. If the rest of the album is meant to sound as if it were recorded in the intimacy of a hotel room, here the song stops, rewinds and is suddenly transformed by a huge symphony orchestra. Cocker describes it as the album’s Purple Rose Of Cairo moment, where the listener suddenly finds himself inside the film that she is watching. It’s a delicious sonic trick in an album filled with similarly delicious moments.

Q&A
Jarvis Cocker
How did you meet Chilly Gonzales?
He supported Pulp at the Eden Project, down in Cornwall, years ago, just before we took a break. Then I chose him to play at Meltdown when I curated that back in 2007, as I loved his first solo piano LP. We bumped into each other on the Paris Metro a few years later, and realised we lived very close to each other. We did a version of a Stephen Sondheim song for the Todd Haynes segment of the film Six By Sondheim, and not long after that I suggested this Chateau Marmont project. What I love about his piano-playing is that it conjures up images of the ’30s, which fitted in perfectly with this theme.

What was the starting point for the project?
It was seeing a baby grand piano in the room that I was staying in. I’d never seen a piano in a hotel room before. Imagine the stories that piano could tell! The Chateau Marmont opened in 1929 and its history was synonymous with the development of cinema in the early days of the talkies. It was also a place where early scriptwriters would stay, and it was known as “the home of the sell out”. In those days, cinema was considered cheap and tacky. When respected writers like F Scott Fitzgerald came to the Marmont to write film scripts, they kept quiet about it.

Who is the film critic who discusses the golden age of Hollywood?
That was David Thomson, who was born in Streatham but lives in San Francisco, and he kindly agreed to be interviewed at the Chateau Marmont for me. I loved his book, The Big Screen: The Story Of The Movies, and his radio series, Life At 24 Frames A Second. He talks about how the movies tapped into these deep desires and dreams that had probably existed in human beings forever, but were suddenly brought to life on a big screen. With cinema, you had to leave the house to bring those desires to life, like going to church or something. For us, the telly was on in the corner most of the day – it’s like those monsters that were unleashed by Hollywood are now domesticated, jabbering away in the corner all day.

“Salomé” sounds very much like a Bacharach song…
Yeah, I thought that, too, when Chilly played me the instrumental. I’ve always loved the songs that Burt Bacharach sings in his croaky, lived-in voice. I prefer that to the amazing soul singers who show off on his songs. With “Salomé”, I wanted to sing something that sounded like Bacharach, squeezing emotion from his limited vocal range. INTERVIEW: JOHN LEWIS

The May 2017 issue of Uncut is now on sale in the UK – featuring our cover story on Buckingham Nicks. Elsewhere in the issue, there’s interviews with Elastica, Mac DeMarco, John Lydon and Mike Love. We take a trip to Morocco – North African destination of The Beatles, Stones, Hendrix and more – and look back at the life of Laura Nyro. Our free CD collects great new tracks from Father John Misty, Mark Lanegan Band, Fairport Convention, Thundercat and more. The issue also features Wire on their best recorded work. Plus Future Islands, Lemon Twigs, Sleaford Mods, Rod Stewart, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, T.Rex, Cosey Fanni Tutti and more, plus 131 reviews

Reviewed: The Handmaiden

Michael Bonner
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Reviewed: The Handmaiden

Park Chan-wook’s last film, Stoker, was a gothic melodrama set in a large, remote house complete with bodies in the freezer. Evidently, Park has a thing about rambling properties and lurid potboilers. Much of the action in The Handmaiden takes place in another unusual house, this one reputedly haunted by a suicide. “Sometimes on a moonless night, my aunt’s ghost dangles from that branch,” we are told by wealthy heiress, Lady Hideko (Kim Min-hee).

Living on a remote, isolated estate, we learn that Hideko is to be married to her uncle. Meanwhile, a con man, Count Fujiwara (Ha Jung-woo), has embedded a new handmaiden among her retinue. It transpires that Nam Sook-he (Kim Tae-ri) has been tasked with enticing her mistress to fall for this duplicitous ‘count’. As Lady Hideko’s relationship with the count develops, so a different relationship with Sook-hee emerges. “Each night in bed, I think of your face,” declares Lady Hideko as Nam Sook-he unbuttons her mistress’ bodice.

Adapted from Sarah Waters’ novel, Fingersmith, Chan-wook relocates the story from Victorian England to 1930s Korea. The setting is puissant. Just as Korea was under Japanese colonial occupation during this period, so Lady Hideko and Nam Sook-he are oppressed – not only by the uncle and the count but also by their traditional roles within society. Park’s film – which is excellent, incidentally – charts Hideko and Nam Sook-he’s pursuit of liberation.

Much as Lady Hideko’s house is a clash of Western and Japanese architecture that somehow coalesces, so The Handmaiden mixes classical, formal composition with Park’s typically twisted cinematic outlook. “Amost fully ripe,” says the count lasciviously, as he bites into a peach.

Follow me on Twitter @MichaelBonner

The May 2017 issue of Uncut is now on sale in the UK – featuring our cover story on Buckingham Nicks. Elsewhere in the issue, there’s interviews with Elastica, Mac DeMarco, John Lydon and Mike Love. We take a trip to Morocco – North African destination of The Beatles, Stones, Hendrix and more – and look back at the life of Laura Nyro. Our free CD collects great new tracks from Father John Misty, Mark Lanegan Band, Fairport Convention, Thundercat and more. The issue also features Wire on their best recorded work. Plus Future Islands, Lemon Twigs, Sleaford Mods, Rod Stewart, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, T.Rex, Cosey Fanni Tutti and more, plus 131 reviews

Watch Billy Bragg cover Woody Guthrie’s “I Ain’t Got No Home” at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards

Michael Bonner
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Watch Billy Bragg cover Woody Guthrie’s “I Ain’t Got No Home” at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards

Billy Bragg honoured Woody Guthrie with a cover of “I Ain’t Got No Home” at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.

Guthrie was being inducted into the Radio 2 Folk Awards Hall of Fame.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVIHzW9m3g8

Bragg has covered Guthrie’s music throughout his career, notably with Wilco on 1998’s Mermaid Avenue – and it two follow-ups in 2000 and 2012 – which put new music to unused Guthrie lyrics.

Bragg previously covered “I Ain’t Got No Home” on his last solo album, 2013’s Tooth And Nail.

The May 2017 issue of Uncut is now on sale in the UK – featuring our cover story on Buckingham Nicks. Elsewhere in the issue, there’s interviews with Elastica, Mac DeMarco, John Lydon and Mike Love. We take a trip to Morocco – North African destination of The Beatles, Stones, Hendrix and more – and look back at the life of Laura Nyro. Our free CD collects great new tracks from Father John Misty, Mark Lanegan Band, Fairport Convention, Thundercat and more. The issue also features Wire on their best recorded work. Plus Future Islands, Lemon Twigs, Sleaford Mods, Rod Stewart, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, T.Rex, Cosey Fanni Tutti and more, plus 131 reviews

Listen to Jack White’s new song, “Battle Cry”

Michael Bonner
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Listen to Jack White’s new song, “Battle Cry”

Jack White has released a surprise new single called “Battle Cry“.

Aside from a few chants of “Hey!” at the start, the track is an instrumental – listen below.

It is unconfirmed as to whether this is a one-off single or a teaser for his third solo album. White is currently recording in Nashville, Tennessee.

Speaking to The New Yorker last month (March) for a rare profile feature, White revealed he has a private bowling alley in his house in which he keeps a bowling ball for Bob Dylan.

The New Yorker‘s Alec Wilkinson writes that “each dedicated ball has a name tag, and some of the balls are painted fancifully—Bob Dylan’s has a portrait of John Wayne.”

The piece also reveals a host of rare items that White owns, including Lead Belly’s New York City arrest record, James Brown‘s driving license from the ’80s and a copy of Action Comics No. 1 from June 1938, which includes Superman’s first published appearance.

The May 2017 issue of Uncut is now on sale in the UK – featuring our cover story on Buckingham Nicks. Elsewhere in the issue, there’s interviews with Elastica, Mac DeMarco, John Lydon and Mike Love. We take a trip to Morocco – North African destination of The Beatles, Stones, Hendrix and more – and look back at the life of Laura Nyro. Our free CD collects great new tracks from Father John Misty, Mark Lanegan Band, Fairport Convention, Thundercat and more. The issue also features Wire on their best recorded work. Plus Future Islands, Lemon Twigs, Sleaford Mods, Rod Stewart, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, T.Rex, Cosey Fanni Tutti and more, plus 131 reviews

Watch Radiohead perform “Where I End And You Begin” for the first time in nine years

Michael Bonner
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Watch Radiohead perform “Where I End And You Begin” for the first time in nine years

Radiohead performed at Kansas City, Missouri’s Spirit Center last night (April 5), and they played “Where I End And You Begin” for the first time in nine years.

They last played the song – from Hail To The Thief – in Tokyo, back in 2008. Watch fan-shot footage below.

The band have been digging into their extensive back catalogue in the last week, previously treating Miami fans to a rendition of “The Tourist” and Atlanta fans to “House Of Cards“, from their In Rainbows LP.

Setlist:

‘Daydreaming’
‘Desert Island Disk’
‘Ful Stop’
‘Airbag’
’15 Step’
‘The National Anthem’
‘Separator’
‘All I Need’
‘Street Spirit (Fade Out)’
‘Bloom’
‘I Might Be Wrong’
‘Identikit’
‘Weird Fishes / Arpeggi’
‘Idioteque’
‘Where I End and You Begin’
‘Lucky’
‘Present Tense’

Encore 1:
‘Give Up the Ghost’
‘Burn the Witch’
‘Reckoner’
‘Fake Plastic Trees’
‘Nude’

Encore 2:
‘You and Whose Army?’
‘Karma Police’

Encore 3:
‘There There’

The May 2017 issue of Uncut is now on sale in the UK – featuring our cover story on Buckingham Nicks. Elsewhere in the issue, there’s interviews with Elastica, Mac DeMarco, John Lydon and Mike Love. We take a trip to Morocco – North African destination of The Beatles, Stones, Hendrix and more – and look back at the life of Laura Nyro. Our free CD collects great new tracks from Father John Misty, Mark Lanegan Band, Fairport Convention, Thundercat and more. The issue also features Wire on their best recorded work. Plus Future Islands, Lemon Twigs, Sleaford Mods, Rod Stewart, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, T.Rex, Cosey Fanni Tutti and more, plus 131 reviews

Queen launch their own Monopoly game

Michael Bonner
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0
Queen launch their own Monopoly game

Queen have launched their own edition of the board game, Monopoly.

Monopoly: Queen Edition is released on May 8, 2017 and available for pre-order now.

According to a press release, the “game follows in the footsteps of one of the most iconic bands in history, from their humble beginnings on London’s smaller stages to worldwide success and adoration.”

The game features six collectible Queen tokens inspired by their career and bespoke ‘houses’ and ‘hotels’ designed by the band’s Brian May. The game board features gig venues from throughout Queen’s illustrious history- from the band’s formation in 1970, right up to the 1986 Wembley and Knebworth shows.

Says Brian May, “I think fans will be enchanted by the depth of detail in this special Queen edition of an already well-loved game. We have subtly morphed the traditional property-developing journey of Monopoly into the real-life adventure of a rock band on the road. Players will plot a whole career, based on developing bigger and better shows in venues all around the globe. Join us and conquer the World !!!”

In making the announcement, David Boyne, MD of Bravado UK, said, “We are delighted to have partnered with Winning Moves to help bring these historic music and gaming forces together to create Monopoly; Queen Edition. It has been inspiring to see the band so involved throughout the creative process and Brian and Roger’s input has helped create a truly special and personal version of the iconic game that Queen Fans around the world will love.”

The May 2017 issue of Uncut is now on sale in the UK – featuring our cover story on Buckingham Nicks. Elsewhere in the issue, there’s interviews with Elastica, Mac DeMarco, John Lydon and Mike Love. We take a trip to Morocco – North African destination of The Beatles, Stones, Hendrix and more – and look back at the life of Laura Nyro. Our free CD collects great new tracks from Father John Misty, Mark Lanegan Band, Fairport Convention, Thundercat and more. The issue also features Wire on their best recorded work. Plus Future Islands, Lemon Twigs, Sleaford Mods, Rod Stewart, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, T.Rex, Cosey Fanni Tutti and more, plus 131 reviews

The 14th Uncut Playlist Of 2017

John Mulvey
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The 14th Uncut Playlist Of 2017

In a bit of a flap this morning, so not much time for niceties, but lots of good stuff to dig into here, between a new boot of Riley & Cherry’s 1975 Cologne concert and the sublime Michael Mayer mix I’m playing as I type. Please do check out The Weather Station’s live set from Massey Hall, Mikey Young’s comp of mellow Aussie ‘70s psych, and also Joeything on Soundcloud: 20+ years ago, I often used to go and see a UK hardcore band called Joeyfat, whose default reviews invariably described them as a mix between Fugazi and Pulp. Now they’ve reconfigured as a duo, added a whole heap of Aphex acid into the mix, and work incredibly well as a sort of Sleaford Mods for people (like me) who don’t like Sleaford Mods very much. Give it a go…

Follow me on Twitter @JohnRMulvey

1 Terry Riley & Don Cherry – Duo (B.Free)

2 Gas – Narkopop (Kompakt)

3 Kendrick Lamar – The Heart Part 4 (Top Dawg Entertainment)

4 Evan Dando – Baby I’m Bored (Fire)

5 Mako Sica – Invocation (Feeding Tube)

6 Tony Conrad – Ten Years Alive On The Infinite Plain (Superior Viaduct)

7 Hiss Golden Messenger – Parker’s Picks Vol 1: Live At The Parish, Austin, Texas 18/10/2016 (Bandcamp)

8 Lejsovka & Freund – Music For Small Ensemble & Computer (MIE)

9 Guadalupe Plata – Guadalupe Plata (Everlasting)

10 Ifriqiyya Electrique – Rûwâhîne’ (Glitterbeat)

11 Kevin Morby – City Music (Dead Oceans)

12 Vieux Farka Touré – Samba (Six Degrees)

13 The Weather Station Live at Massey Hall | November 27, 2015 (www.liveatmasseyhall.com)

14 Arthur Verocai – Encore (Far Out)

15 Joeythin – Thine EP (Unlabel)

16 Here Lies Man – Here Lies Man (Riding Easy)

17 The Heliocentrics – A World Of Masks (Soundway)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQd16e9tDnY

18 Various Artists – Follow The Sun (Anthology)

19 Do Make Say Think – Stubborn Persistent Illusions (Constellation)

20 Ragnar Grippe –  Sand (Dais)

21 Feist – Pleasure (Polydor)

22 Michael Mayer – DJ Kicks (!K7)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDJktk0QqBo

 

The Beatles unveil 50th anniversary edition of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

Michael Bonner
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The Beatles unveil 50th anniversary edition of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

The Beatles will mark the 50th anniversary of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band with a special edition of the album, featuring 34 previously unreleased recordings.

Released on May 26 by Apple Corps Ltd./Universal Music, the album has been newly mixed by Giles Martin and Sam Okell in stereo and 5.1 surround audio and expanded with early takes from the studio sessions.

“It’s crazy to think that 50 years later we are looking back on this project with such fondness and a little bit of amazement at how four guys, a great producer and his engineers could make such a lasting piece of art,” says Paul McCartney in his newly-penned introduction for the ‘Sgt. Pepper’ Anniversary Edition.

“‘Sgt. Pepper’ seemed to capture the mood of that year, and it also allowed a lot of other people to kick off from there and to really go for it,” Ringo Starr recalls in the Anniversary Edition’s book.

For Record Store Day on April 22, Apple Corps Ltd./Capitol/UMe will release an exclusive, limited edition seven-inch vinyl single of The Beatles’ “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Penny Lane” among the first songs recorded during the ‘Sgt. Pepper’ sessions.

This is the first time Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band has been remixed and presented with additional session recordings, and it is the first Beatles album to be remixed and expanded since the 2003 release of Let It Be… Naked.

You can pre-order by clicking here.

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band Anniversary Edition releases include:

A CD featuring the new ‘Sgt. Pepper’ stereo mix, complete with the original U.K. album’s “Edit for LP End” run-out groove.

Deluxe: Expanded 2CD and digital package features the new stereo album mix on the first CD and adds a second CD of 18 tracks, including previously unreleased complete takes of the album’s 13 songs, newly mixed in stereo and sequenced in the same order as the album. The second CD also includes a new stereo mix and a previously unreleased instrumental take of “Penny Lane” and the 2015 stereo mix and two previously unreleased complete takes of “Strawberry Fields Forever.”

Deluxe Vinyl: Expanded 180-gram 2LP vinyl package features the new stereo album mix on the first LP and adds a second LP with previously unreleased complete takes of the album’s 13 songs, newly mixed in stereo and sequenced in the same order as the album.

Super Deluxe: The comprehensive six-disc boxed set features:
CD 1: New stereo album mix
CDs 2 & 3:
– 33 additional recordings from the studio sessions, most previously unreleased and mixed for the first time from the four-track session tapes, sequenced in chronological order of their recording dates
– A new stereo mix of “Penny Lane” and the 2015 stereo mix of “Strawberry Fields Forever”
CD 4:
– Direct transfers of the album’s original mono mix and the “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Penny Lane” singles
– Capitol Records’ U.S. promotional mono single mix of “Penny Lane”
– Previously unreleased early mono mixes of “She’s Leaving Home,” “A Day In The Life,” and “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds” (a mix thought to have been erased from a tape in 1967, but discovered during archive research for the anniversary edition)
Discs 5 & 6 (Blu-ray and DVD):
– New 5.1 surround audio mixes of the album and “Penny Lane” by Giles Martin and Sam Okell, plus their 2015 5.1 surround mix of “Strawberry Fields Forever”
– High resolution audio versions of the new stereo mixes of the album and “Penny Lane” and of the 2015 stereo mix of “Strawberry Fields Forever”
– Video features: 4K restored original promotional films for “Strawberry Fields Forever,” “Penny Lane,” and “A Day In The Life;” plus The Making of Sgt. Pepper, a restored, previously unreleased documentary film (broadcast in 1992), featuring insightful interviews with McCartney, Harrison, and Starr, and in-studio footage introduced by George Martin.

The tracklisting for Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band Anniversary Editions are:

CD
(‘Sgt. Pepper’ 2017 Stereo Mix)
1. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
2. With A Little Help From My Friends
3. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
4. Getting Better
5. Fixing A Hole
6. She’s Leaving Home
7. Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite!
8. Within You Without You
9. When I’m Sixty-Four
10. Lovely Rita
11. Good Morning Good Morning
12. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
13. A Day In The Life

Deluxe [2CD, digital]

CD 1: ‘Sgt. Pepper’ 2017 Stereo Mix (same as single-disc CD tracklist, above)

CD 2: Complete early takes from the sessions in the same sequence as the album, plus various versions of “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Penny Lane”
1. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band [Take 9]
2. With A Little Help From My Friends [Take 1 – False Start And Take 2 – Instrumental]
3. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds [Take 1]
4. Getting Better [Take 1 – Instrumental And Speech At The End]
5. Fixing A Hole [Speech And Take 3]
6. She’s Leaving Home [Take 1 – Instrumental]
7. Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite! [Take 4]
8. Within You Without You [Take 1 – Indian Instruments]
9. When I’m Sixty-Four [Take 2]
10. Lovely Rita [Speech And Take 9]
11. Good Morning Good Morning [Take 8]
12. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) [Take 8]
13. A Day In The Life [Take 1 With Hummed Last Chord]
14. Strawberry Fields Forever [Take 7]
15. Strawberry Fields Forever [Take 26]
16. Strawberry Fields Forever [Stereo Mix – 2015]
17. Penny Lane [Take 6 – Instrumental]
18. Penny Lane [Stereo Mix – 2017]

Deluxe Vinyl [180g 2LP]

LP 1: ‘Sgt. Pepper’ 2017 Stereo Mix (same as single-disc CD tracklist, above)
SIDE 1 SIDE 2
1. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
1. Within You Without You
2. With A Little Help From My Friends
2. When I’m Sixty-Four
3. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
3. Lovely Rita
4. Getting Better 4. Good Morning Good Morning
5. Fixing A Hole 5. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
6. She’s Leaving Home 6. A Day In The Life
7. Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite!

LP 2: Complete early takes from the sessions in the same sequence as the album
SIDE 3
1. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band [Take 9 And Speech]
2. With A Little Help From My Friends [Take 1 – False Start And Take 2 – Instrumental]
3. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds [Take 1]
4. Getting Better [Take 1 – Instrumental And Speech At The End]
5. Fixing A Hole [Speech And Take 3]
6. She’s Leaving Home [Take 1 – Instrumental]
7. Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite! [Take 4]

SIDE 4
1. Within You Without You [Take 1 – Indian Instruments]
2. When I’m Sixty-Four [Take 2]
3. Lovely Rita [Speech And Take 9]
4. Good Morning Good Morning [Take 8]
5. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) [Take 8]
6. A Day In The Life [Take 1 With Hummed Last Chord]

Super Deluxe [4CD/DVD/Blu-ray boxed set]

CD 1: ‘Sgt. Pepper’ 2017 Stereo Mix (same as single-disc CD tracklist, above)

CD 2: Complete early takes from the sessions, sequenced in chronological order of their first recording dates
1. Strawberry Fields Forever [Take 1]
2. Strawberry Fields Forever [Take 4]
3. Strawberry Fields Forever [Take 7]
4. Strawberry Fields Forever [Take 26]
5. Strawberry Fields Forever [Stereo Mix – 2015]
6. When I’m Sixty-Four [Take 2]
7. Penny Lane [Take 6 – Instrumental]
8. Penny Lane [Vocal Overdubs And Speech]
9. Penny Lane [Stereo Mix – 2017]
10. A Day In The Life [Take 1]
11. A Day In The Life [Take 2]
12. A Day In The Life [Orchestra Overdub]
13. A Day In The Life (Hummed Last Chord) [Takes 8, 9, 10 and 11]
14. A Day In The Life (The Last Chord)
15. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band [Take 1 – Instrumental]
16. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band [Take 9 And Speech]
17. Good Morning Good Morning [Take 1 – Instrumental, Breakdown]
18. Good Morning Good Morning [Take 8]

CD 3: Complete early takes from the sessions, sequenced in chronological order of their first recording dates
1. Fixing A Hole [Take 1]
2. Fixing A Hole [Speech And Take 3]
3. Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite! [Speech From Before Take 1; Take 4 And Speech At End]
4. Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite! [Take 7]
5. Lovely Rita [Speech And Take 9]
6. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds [Take 1 And Speech At The End]
7. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds [Speech, False Start And Take 5]
8. Getting Better [Take 1 – Instrumental And Speech At The End]
9. Getting Better [Take 12]
10. Within You Without You [Take 1 – Indian Instruments Only]
11. Within You Without You [George Coaching The Musicians]
12. She’s Leaving Home [Take 1 – Instrumental]
13. She’s Leaving Home [Take 6 – Instrumental]
14. With A Little Help From My Friends [Take 1 – False Start And Take 2 – Instrumental]
15. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) [Speech And Take 8]

CD 4: ‘Sgt. Pepper’ and bonus tracks in Mono
(Tracks 1-13: 2017 Direct Transfer of ‘Sgt. Pepper’ Original Mono Mix)
14. Strawberry Fields Forever [Original Mono Mix]
15. Penny Lane [Original Mono Mix]
16. A Day In The Life [Unreleased First Mono Mix]
17. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds [Unreleased Mono Mix – No. 11]
18. She’s Leaving Home [Unreleased First Mono Mix]
19. Penny Lane [Capitol Records U.S. Promo Single – Mono Mix]

DISCS 5 & 6 (Blu-ray & DVD)
Audio Features (both discs):
– New 5.1 Surround Audio mixes of ‘Sgt. Pepper’ album and “Penny Lane,” plus 2015 5.1 Surround mix of “Strawberry Fields Forever” (Blu-ray: DTS HD Master Audio 5.1, Dolby True HD 5.1 / DVD: DTS Dolby Digital 5.1)
– High Resolution Audio versions of 2017 ‘Sgt. Pepper’ stereo mix and 2017 “Penny Lane” stereo mix, plus 2015 “Strawberry Fields Forever” hi res stereo mix (Blu-ray: LPCM Stereo 96KHz/24bit / DVD: LPCM Stereo)
Video Features (both discs):
– The Making of Sgt. Pepper [restored 1992 documentary film, previously unreleased]
– Promotional Films: “A Day In The Life;” “Strawberry Fields Forever;” “Penny Lane” [4K restored]

The May 2017 issue of Uncut is now on sale in the UK – featuring our cover story on Buckingham Nicks. Elsewhere in the issue, there’s interviews with Elastica, Mac DeMarco, John Lydon and Mike Love. We take a trip to Morocco – North African destination of The Beatles, Stones, Hendrix and more – and look back at the life of Laura Nyro. Our free CD collects great new tracks from Father John Misty, Mark Lanegan Band, Fairport Convention, Thundercat and more. The issue also features Wire on their best recorded work. Plus Future Islands, Lemon Twigs, Sleaford Mods, Rod Stewart, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, T.Rex, Cosey Fanni Tutti and more, plus 131 reviews

Spoon – Hot Thoughts

Bud Scoppa
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Spoon – Hot Thoughts

Spoon’s distinct identity, a deft balance of concision, swagger, vulnerability and taut grooves, coalesced on 2001’s Girls Can Tell. The following year, Austin-based co-founders Britt Daniel and Jim Eno perfected their recipe with the following year’s minimalist masterpiece Kill The Moonlight, an album that still sounds radical a decade and a half later.

After four more beguiling and nervy albums, Daniel and Eno have made another sonic shift as bold and striking as the Girls-Kill segue, but in this case the transition is expansive rather than reductive. 2014’s They Want My Soul – satisfying if unsurprising – was the first to feature co-producer Dave Fridmann, yet it’s on Hot Thoughts that his influence is felt strongest, with Spoon’s standard instrumentation manipulated in a manner analogous to David Bowie, Brian Eno and Tony Visconti’s audacious treatments on Low – right down to the eerily atmospheric sax-and-drums dialogue “Us”, the album’s “Warszawa”-like instrumental coda.

This new approach is emphatically apparent from the start of the opening title track: a drum machine groove gallops out of an electronic drone, while Daniel’s guitar stabs and pounded celeste get a compressed treatment from Fridmann, locking the licks into the overall sonic architecture. The quantized feel continues through the subdued bridge, coloured by Daniel’s moody piano, whereupon Eno’s drums suddenly appear with the concussive impact of mortar shells and drive the track to its heated conclusion. The surprises continue: playful syncopation on “Do I Have To Talk You Into It” morphs into a brontosaurus stomp, while “Whisperi’lllistentohearit”’s one-note sequencer pattern is sent into overdrive by Eno’s Bonham-muscled eruption at the two-minute mark.

On Hot Thoughts, the dance of sinew and space that has always defined Spoon’s identity has been absorbed into a sonic monolith that moves forward aggressively and relentlessly. And yet the band’s instrumental signifiers are still present, embedded in the throbbing soundscapes – like the shakers that subliminally propel the six-minute, mostly instrumental groove fest “Pink Up”, and the King-Kong-scale handclaps and Thunderclap Newman piano chords that push the groove on “Can I Sit Next To You”.

“I Ain’t The One”, originally conceived as a loner’s parting gesture in the manner of Johnny Cash, has been reimagined by Daniel and Fischel as an understated, achingly regretful ballad of lost chances. Captured in a reverberant room, with overdubbed choirboy harmonies set off by a startlingly assertive rhythmic bridge, the song – centered on what may be Daniel’s most unguarded vocal performance – is as beautiful as anything in the Spoon lexicon.

Daniel’s propulsive piano, another signature move, sets the defiant tone of “Tear It Down”, which in light of current events comes off like a grand, up-to-the-minute protest anthem: “Let them build a wall/I don’t care I’m gonna tear it down/It’s just bricks and ill intentions/They don’t stand a chance/I’ll tear it down”. “Shotgun” doubles down on this confrontational tone behind Daniel’s staccato guitar volleys and wry yet sobering allusions: “You and me dreamin’ ’bout full medical and dental”.

Unlike most of their contemporaries, Daniel and Eno have never wavered in their focus, never lost the plot, never allowed ego to distort their disciplined direction, resulting in one of the most consistent outputs of any 21st-century band. Hot Thoughts finds Spoon at the peak of their considerable powers, their ninth album effortlessly unfolding and gradually revealing its mysteries as they cement their place in the firmament of undeniably great rock bands.

Q&A
Britt Daniel
How much was Bowie on your mind as you were making this record?
I figured this out before he died; I do think Bowie is, to put it bluntly, the guy I’ve ripped off the most [laughs]. I’d hear a song like “Modern Love”, where he starts off right at the top of his range [sings the first line], and I’d want to figure out what that formula was. But I really feel like Bowie has given me more ideas than anyone else. Probably second to Bowie would be Prince, which is a sad coincidence.

After They Want My Soul, which struck me as a summing up of your approach, the new album feels like it’s setting off into uncharted territory.
I think it sounds different from our other records – if it was ground we’d covered before, we tried to stay away from it. What Dave [Fridmann] is interested in doing is fucking things up – making sounds that are abrasive, confrontational or surprising. He always says, “Subtlety is our enemy”. To me, the best way to get somewhere is to have a little bit of intention with a song, but then you throw some things at it that you never could’ve expected. When that happens, the beautiful stuff comes. So I feel really good about where we are now. But it also feels like a very dark time.
INTERVIEW: BUD SCOPPA

The May 2017 issue of Uncut is now on sale in the UK – featuring our cover story on Buckingham Nicks. Elsewhere in the issue, there’s interviews with Elastica, Mac DeMarco, John Lydon and Mike Love. We take a trip to Morocco – North African destination of The Beatles, Stones, Hendrix and more – and look back at the life of Laura Nyro. Our free CD collects great new tracks from Father John Misty, Mark Lanegan Band, Fairport Convention, Thundercat and more. The issue also features Wire on their best recorded work. Plus Future Islands, Lemon Twigs, Sleaford Mods, Rod Stewart, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, T.Rex, Cosey Fanni Tutti and more, plus 131 reviews

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